Kim Jong Un has been accused of sending balloons filled with poo and rubbish into South Korea, partly in protest against K-pop.
Yesterday (Wednesday May 29), South Korea’s Joint Chiefs Of Staff (JCS) claimed the supreme leader of North Korea had floated more than 260 balloons across the border since Tuesday (May 28).
According to a JCS official, the fallen inflatables contained “various pieces of trash, such as plastic bottles, batteries, shoe parts and even manure” (via the Seoul-based Yonhap News Agency). No damage has been reported as of yet.
Reuters noted that North Korean defectors and activists in South Korea “regularly” send balloons containing anti-Pyongyang leaflets, food, medicine, money and USB sticks loaded with K-pop music videos and dramas across the border.
North Korea had warned last Sunday (May 26) that it would send “mounds of wastepaper and filth” over to South Korea in a “tit-for-tat” retaliation (via Consequence).
The JCS said this marked the largest number of North Korean balloons sent into the South, following similar instances between 2016 and 2018.
In response to the latest action, the military deployed personnel from chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear response teams, as well as bomb disposal units to collect the objects for a detailed analysis.
“These acts by North Korea clearly violate international law and seriously threaten our people’s safety,” the JCS said. “[We] sternly warn North Korea to immediately stop its inhumane and vulgar act.”
Photographs of the collapsed balloons appeared to show rubbish strewn around them, with the word “excrement” said to be written on a bag in one image.
North Korea flew more than 200 balloons of trash and manure toward South Korea, prompting the South’s military to mobilize.
It’s one of North Korea’s most bizarre provocations against its rival in years. pic.twitter.com/4CmYBvm134
— The Associated Press (@AP) May 29, 2024
🤣 North Korea used balloons to throw shit and garbage at South Korea. More than 90 balloons crossed the border and landed in different places across the country. The balls contained plastic bottles, shoe parts and shit. South Korea “sternly warned” the North to “immediately stop… pic.twitter.com/g3eheyPK9W
— Иван (@OGflattrackerZ) May 29, 2024
Kim Yo Jong – politician and sister of Kim Jong Un – said the inflatables were “gifts of sincerity” for South Koreans who “cry for freedom of expression”. She had vowed to send dozens more balloons than South Korea had flown into the North.
A Seoul official claimed that North Korea might want to “test” the South’s reaction but said it would respond calmly. Citizens have been advised not to touch the objects, and to report to the police or military if they discover them.
In 2021, Kim Jong Un described K-pop as a “vicious cancer” that was corrupting the young people he governs.
At the time, it was reported that the politician had declared a new culture war to halt the spread and influence of South Korean films, dramas and K-pop videos to his citizens through a secretive anti-K-pop campaign.
A study from a Seoul-based human rights group later claimed that he had executed at least seven people in North Korea for viewing or distributing K-pop videos over the past 10 years.